Tags
beds, double bloom, exotic, Fall bulbs, flowers, Landscape design, landscaping, lavender, mulch, peonies, perennial, pink, purple, tulip, tulips, unusual tulips, varieties, white, yellow
The last time our mower came out, my husband inquired how much it would cost to mulch around our house. His quote? $3,800. My husband hates yard work and rarely, if ever, wants to venture out there. Last year I mulched everything, but I guess this was my husband’s subtle way of saying it needs to be done again! Of course I am not going to pay that much money, so I said I would do it again. His response? “Have fun”! That was his not-so-subtle way of telling me I was on my own…again!
I figured since I’m out there, I might as well do some fall bulb planting as well…but it’s so hard to get motivated sometimes!! After looking through a few of my favorite gardening catalogs, I really would like to plant some tulip bulbs.
These pictures are just insanely gorgeous!
These aren’t tulips, but it is similar to the picture above it and I wanted to show how a river of flowers can be done with other bulbs.
My favorite color!
I dream of my own cutting garden…
Besides the normal, run-of-the-mill tulips, here are some that I would like to get because of their distinctive look:
Tulip Groenland
Tulip Backpacker (Double peony-like tulips)
Tulip Blue Diamond
Tulip Exotic Emperor
Tulip Lilac Perfection
(because there are no lilac colored peonies)
Tulip Monsella
Tulip Yonina
Tulip Peace Flame
Tulip World Expression
Tulip Sweet Love
Tulip Verona
Tulip Cartouche
I also want to plant a woodland mix, but I doubt that will happen this year!
And this is a lovely mix too of crocuses, snowdrops, grape hyacinths and white squill
My husband once helped me paint, but he did such a bad job, that I kicked him off the painting squad, which made it a painting squad of one (me!). I think he’s up to his old tricks again of doing a bad job to get out of any and all gardening! The last time I got him out in the yard, he weed whacked 4 of my beautiful peonies and 3 carpet rose bushes to down to nubs. Hmmm…maybe retaliation for asking him to do the weed whacking? I told him that most people do some kind of yard work at least a couple times a year and that paying outrageous sums isn’t the answer. Well, I guess he told me!
It does give me something to do while the children are playing outside, so I guess I am off to pick up mulch…a LOT of it 😉 Have a great day!
Beautiful pictures. My bulbs to plant are Daffodils. I love them and the animals leave them alone.
Cynthia
I don’t have any daffodils, but I definitely need some! Those and crocuses always give the first nod to spring 🙂
Thanks for the eye candy! Gorgeous.
You are welcome! Thank you for reading!
Beautiful!
Oh, and I HATE mulching!!!!! But, I hate weeding more 😦
Lol! I hate hauling the bags around! One year, I just ordered a truckload, thinking that would be easier…well, it wasn’t!! Once I start weeding, I can’t stop! But I’m so scared I’m going to come across a snake or spider one of these days – YIKES!!!
Sounds great, once you get done weeding at your place just come over to mine!!! I promise no spiders or snakes!!
My goodness, you ARE ambitious! All that mulching AND planting tulips. Good luck with that. I’ve planted tulips several times, but the chipmunks discovered them and ate them. I planted again and again because the tulips were important to me. They were planted in memory of my daughter. I’m sorry to say the chipmunks won. Good luck to you.
Dauna Easley
Thank you – I have yet to see a chipmunk and the squirrels are non-existent because so much of our land is open that they get picked off my the hawks 😦 Did you try putting chicken wire over the bulbs as a deterrent? I’ve heard that works well. I’m so sorry about your daughter…how utterly heartbreaking.
I have to say…you are remarkably cheerful about this. At my house, where this scenario is essentially reversed, the shanghai-ing of workforce not only begets poor work, but usually a 3 day domestic as well. For the most part I like to be the design team and the labor force on my own (and I’ll bet you do, too) because as I like to say, if you don’t vote in the election, you don’t get to complain about the results!
I love how you write! “The shanghai-ing of workforce”!! That really sums it up and is so funny! I am always the planner/designer too on all the projects and I get him to help to a certain extent, but just not in the garden! I am cheerful about it… as I am not going to be $3,800 poorer (because he thought the price was ok)! Usually, I do all the financial finagling/haggling for just this reason!
Gorgeous. I hope you have better luck than we did with ours. They came, we saw, they died!
So funny!! Venerunt, viderunt, mortui sunt!!
Ha! Way to go!
We lived in Tyler, Texas for 5 years, where they have the most beautiful azaleas and tulips in the spring. So, one year, I planted tulips…..they came up rather hesitantly, greened up nicely, then most refused to bloom. I was crushed…..lol…..I’m now sticking with what I know best. Evergreen vines, marigolds, periwinkles, geraniums and morning glories.
Oh no! Tulips need a cold winter and therefore don’t do well in the South. I am going to try just a few (these suckers are expensive at $1 per bulb…geesh!), so we will see how they do! I’ll be so upset too if they don’t do anything!
Beautiful pictures. My mother has a beautiful garden in her backyard where tons of flowers and other greenery grow. I love to look at it and dream of a yard like it…..but unfortunately, I’m more like your husband. lol
Love the flower rivers!
What a beautiful collection of tulips. Really enjoyed looking at the pictures. Here in N IL have seen some beautiful tulips in various yards and have always enjoyed them. Wishing you much success 🙂
Beautiful post dear! I love your way of presenting the blog. Thank you for sharing your tulip phase!
Maithili.
Absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!
Gorgeous tulip photos! Just a word of warning: I believe tulips are bulbs that have to be lifted after each season. This is one of the reasons I stick with daffodils. Not sure of your climate, as I am in Australia, but nerines are nice too. I’ve mentioned both of those in my blog if you’re interested.
I too, am the main gardener, occasionally enlisting my husband’s help for major tasks.
I LOVE the river of tulips! Now I want a tulip garden…I guess I’d better get a yard first.
Now that was a feast for the eyes, just beautiful!
These photos are absolutely breathtaking! Tulips (especially pink ones) are my FAVORITE flower, so thank you for this visual journey through the tulips!
Blessings,
~Anna
I’d say your husband has caught on to how my husband handles these jobs – delay, delegate, disappear. I once fell for those beautiful tulip pictures too and planted over 100 bulbs on a section of the hill behind me. I hope you don’t have such busy squirrels as I do because I think about 12 bloomed on the hill & the rest ended up down in the woods & my neighbor’s yards. I still haven’t forgiven my husband for dumping a pile of mulch on top of a gorgeous bed of red Sweet Williams that took 2 years to get blooms… he thought they were weeds.
Oh boy! Look at those colors! Tulips are my very fav! Makes me miss all the tulips I planted at our last house in St. Louis. I even planted a bunch of white tulips in honor of the late Princess Diana (sentimental old fool, I) .
I broke my poor back planting those. I hope the new owner loves and appreciates them, you know?
I haven’t tried them here in Texas, hmmm. Lightbulb!
OMG – Tulips Galore – Love Tulips:)
I should also mention, the bulb industry is enormous here in Washington State: the annual Tulip Festival near the small town of Mount Vernon (WA) is truly a spectacle. My wife used to work in wholesale floral and was invited by a grower to tour the family farm. Washington Bulb Company farms 2,000 acres of land and greenhouses in the Skagit Valley, an incredibly fertile alluvial plain right at sea level: the climate and growing conditions closely mimic those of Holland. Tulip bulbs for the cut-flower marketplace are put into deep cold storage at successively milder temperatures until they are planted into sterile mix in greenhouses–hundreds of thousands of square feet of greenhouses. Then a radiant heating system is slowly lowered toward the growing trays; using these methods, a grower can emulate an entire years’ worth of seasonal change in just a few weeks.
Bulbs for cut flowers can be forced in this manner several times per year until the bulbs run out of plant energy. Then they are dried, bagged and sold to discount bulb retailers. Found a real bargain on bulk tulips? DON’T DO IT! You’ll be disappointed in your floral display and the bulbs will peter out quickly. There is a reason for the premium bulb market–the bulbs are larger and produced specifically for retail sales of bulbs. The retail/premium bulb side of Washington Bulb is called Roozengaarde Flower and Bulb and they can be found at tulips.com , appropriately enough. I have no doubt that what they sell is among the finest in the world.
They magnitude of the bulb industry is mind-boggling—literally. After a few hours of touring, realizing how much goes into producing pretty flowers and bulbs gave me a thinking headache: I can figure out how many BTU’s to heat a 3,000 square foot house, but a 100,000 square foot greenhouse? Several dozen of them? I was told that the Skagit Valley produces more tulip and daffodil bulbs now than Holland…I believe it. If you ever get a chance to visit out here, it is a great place to go; also productive of rainyside apples, cool weather wine grapes, great farms and our pumpkin patches of choice for fall. This is not a paid advertisement, just a place I love!
OMG – that is SUCH good information!! I was going to order from White Flower Farm, which has gorgeous bulbs, but they are definitely not cheap either! Some of them are $15/bulb! But, the bulk bulb pricing is a real eye-opener because I see advertisements for them all the time from a lower-end nursery out here and the prices are so tempting, but now I see why! I am going now to check out tulips.com. You are always a wealth of knowledge! Thank you!!
I had a friend who did this. The squirrels came in the spring with napkins around their necks. You can guess the rest.
Haha!!! So funny! I actually MISS squirrels! Most of our property is open fields, so no squirrels. Plus a lot of hawks 😦
Hi Kearney, I’ve been following your blog for a while now and am always interested in the information that you post, so I mentioned you in my blog Keeping it Real In West Van and nominated you for the Kreativ Blogger Award. Have a great day!
See my blog at ritarussell.wordpress.com
Oh, Rita! Thank you very much! I am very honored! Give Those pooches of yours a smooch from me!
I imagine you digging in all that dirt
And marring perhaps a pretty skirt
Looking forward to the flowers that will come
And taking care with your green thumb –
When it comes to men, what’s a girl to do?
But they have their uses, I know, don’t you?
Hallo dear, I have nominated you for The Wonderful Team Member Readership Award! If you want you can reblog this! http://kiotta.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/sal-ricamabili-award/
As always, this is the most gorgeous collection of inspiring photos on the topic. Just dying to see my bulbs come up and wanting to plant many, many more after looking at this. I especially love the white combination with the white grape hyacinths and all the other white flowers. Such beautiful texture.